Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

It's been thirteen days since the envoys left.  I finished up the depot at the next stop in the path down yesterday morning, and moved all the local wood we'd cut into it.  This morning it was finally a completely clear sky.  I'm actually surprised we have a clear sky this soon.  It rains so much in the first months of the year here that it's rare that there are clear days like this.  I fully expected to end up waiting another month before I had the chance to climb the mountain.

Zeb and I set out in the morning, bringing along a spear each, and some extra food. It was a little more than an hour after we set out on our hike that the trees started to thin, and then eventually stop growing, leaving us with a sparse landscape of low shrubs and grasses. At this point, we've ascended about six-hundred feet. Just before this point, we ran into some of the unknown animals that I hadn't seen in years. The plump animal with the long neck that could jump and glide seemingly with magic.

I got a closer look at them as they hopped away.  Now, they're quite a bit smaller than me.  Roughly the size of an imp, or about the same size as one of the ground birds that the goblins would hunt.  When they're resting, they aren't nearly as plump, but once we startled them, they inflated somewhat, and began hopping away from us in massive, slow leaps.  Honestly, if I'd thought they would make good food before, now I doubt it.  Not only would it be a pain to hunt them, but if when they're resting is any hint, they won't have much meat on them.

In this clearing, I have a much better view of the landscape and ocean, and a suspicion I had is seeming more likely.  The land below us curves towards the mountain, with water on three sides.  We're either on a peninsula with a mountain, or, more likely, on an island which is likely volcanic in origin.

There have been a few hints along the way that this was the case.  One hint was that, from the goblin village, there was only the one mountain visible.  A second hint came from Zaka's story about how he arrived here, washed ashore on a boat.  Either way, we continued on towards the peak to get a full grasp of our situation.

After ascending for another two hours, we reached the summit.  As we reached higher altitudes, the shrubs even subsided, and we were left with rocky soil and grass under our feet.  From the peak, I could see the whole island.  Towards the goblin village the slope is more gentle, and away from it, the slope is steeper, although not so steep that one couldn't climb it.  The peak seems to be a worn down caldera, from what now seems to be an inactive volcano.

The island itself is plenty large, but honestly, if you had roads to get around, you could walk from one side to the other in less than a day.  There seems to be one other good valley area besides where the goblin village is, which could house a settlement, but the rest seems to be semi-rough terrain that would require terraforming to house more than a few people.  Another interesting aspect seems to be that the island experiences rain shadow effects from the volcano.  While the two valleys are roughly on the same side, and look like rainforests, the other side of the island looks drier, and has different plants growing on it.

Opposite the goblin village, across a long stretch of ocean, I can see another mountain, or likely, another volcanic island, peaking above the ocean.  It is mostly green, so I can presume that it, like this island, is covered in trees.  It also seems to have a second, smaller peak on the island, but from here, I can't say how large those peaks are.  I can't even say for certain if that island is bigger or smaller than this one.

There are a few points of interest on this island that I want to look into, in addition to the second valley.  There seems to be a more expansive beach on the far side of the island from the goblin village.  The beach closest to the goblin village quickly descends into cliffs, but the one on the other side seems to descend less rapidly for a longer period, although it seems to be a rock beach rather than sand.  That direction also seems to have a completely different climate due to rain shadow effects, so I'm interested to see if I can find new animals over there.  An obvious second point of interest is the top of the volcano here, where the volcanic rock and soil are exposed, although now that I've been here, I'm not sure what else I'd do up here.  On a cloudier day, I couldn't even look down and see much of the island, and I'm not planning to start any astronomical studies any time soon.

Well, it seems like hiking to the second valley, and around the other side of the island are the two points of interest that I'm interested in.  Obviously, the other island in the distance also intrigues me, but I'm a long way from making a boat on these rough seas.  If the tides are stronger, I'd also expect that ocean waves are quite rough, even for a short distance like this.

After we took in the views and took a break, Zeb and I descended back down the mountain, and arrived back at the cave by mid-afternoon.  We both decided to take the rest of the day to relax, as we were exhausted.  Zeb seemed surprised that he was as tired as he was, considered how much manual labor we've been doing on the road, but I explained to him how air gets thinner the higher up you go, so we were actually experiencing the early stages of altitude sickness, and that is why we were feeling so tired.

Zeb and I continued work on the path down the mountain for the remainder of the month until the goblin envoys arrived.  I had Zeb explain what I saw, and told them at some point, I'd be going on a long journey to explore the island, and would probably miss a meeting, but that Zeb would either stay here or be down in the goblin village while I explored.  Zeb protested initially, but after some convincing, he agreed that he probably shouldn't come exploring with me.  Either way, I don't intend to go exploring again until after the path down the mountain is completed.  Which is still a few months away.

We've been diligently managing the spud fields, and they're starting to grow at a decent pace.  Since they're still a little ways from harvest, and our smoked meat is getting close to running out, we've made a habit of harvesting some lion root when we return up the mountain after working on the path.

It took another three and a half months, but the path to the goblin village is finally finished.  Zeb did an inaugural trip along the whole path and made sure there weren't any places that got missed or changed, and it all seems good.  While he was down in the goblin village, I asked him to see what it would take to get his hands on enough rope to operate the cart winches.  I'd like to use them to move the wood up the mountain from the depot I'd built earlier this year.

Unfortunately, It's a lot harder to barter for goods when you can't just come in to the village to build new buildings for people, when that is what you used to trade.  The rope maker was at a bit of a loss as to what we could trade for it.  Ultimately, I had Zeb let them know we'd need a little over one thousand feet of rope, in a continuous rope, and we'd bring them things until they thought the trade was good enough.

I have a few things in mind that the rope maker might appreciate, so I'll start working on those.  One thing is a set of various sized scissors made from lightstone.  Another is a machete, again made of lightstone, so they can cut vines and tall grasses more effectively.  A third item that I'm not as sure about, and I'm inclined to not interfere too much with the potter's business, is a set of bowls and plates, and potentially cutlery, again made from lightstone.  I have excess lightstone up on the mountain, and I'm hoping the unique color of it impresses them enough to trade for the rope.

It'll take them quite a while, even with the machines I made for them to make a rope this long, so I've decided we'll check back in after the envoys visit at the end of the month, and see if what we've got is enough for them.